show as well. don't miss that. stay tuned for "power lunch." all over the markets. that begins now. >> announcer: halftime's over. the second half of your trading day begins now. >> i want carl icahn to do a leverage buyout of the weather forecast. snow up and down the east coast. what better time to start talking christmas. we're going to do that. our countdown to the big day is on as the retailers take a big step in their bid to get you in the doors early. we're watching another countdown as well. the cliffhanger. the fiscal cliff. we've got some news on possible cuts by the ratings agencies. that is ahead. and, you know the chart. down another $12 today. apple near bear market territory over the past two months, almost down 20%. now things just got a little worse and it all has to do with the iphone. are those lines about to vanish? sue is here with me today at

headquarters in snowy ec. >> it's my lucky day. the countdown to christmas is on. you know it, i know it and perhaps more importantly the retailers know it. so with 46 days before the big day -- no pressure here -- walmart is launching a strike on the american consumer. black friday will start thanksgiving thursday. courtney reagan starts our coverage. so no lingering over the pumpkin pie. >> no time for that, sue. back friday's just 15 days away. retailers are already trying to one-up each other kicking offer the holiday shopping event even earlier. walmart will begin its black friday door busters at 8:00 p.m. thursday with a full week of savings to follow. the full event begins at 10:00 p.m. world's largest retailer is offering a one-hour guarantee to customers in store on several items. if the items sell out before 11:00 p.m., walmart will offer a

guarantee card. product will then be shipped to the store for pick-up for christmas. sears has announced you'll be able to shop thanksgiving and door busters online starting sunday, november 18th. last month small numbers of walmart employees walked off the job protesting various working conditions and threatened to go on a larger strike on black friday. in response to the strike threat, walmart says, "we don't think this will have any impact on our business. our associates understand that black friday and the holiday season is the most important time of the year in the retail business." walmart was open on many locations on thanksgiving last year. many of its stores are open 24 hours a day every day of the year anyways. tyler? >> allrightee. we're going to take a much closer look at the retail second sore in a minute. first, we do have some breaking news from the bond market. $16 billion in 30-year bonds just went up for auction and rick santelli, we think, has the grades.

rick? >> we do. this is a very real-time experience. as i pore through everything, it is a pretty aggressive auction. wti was trading 23.8550. offer 2.85. lower yield, higher price. yes, a big-time higher price. matter of fact, prisd pretty much at the low of the wi market which is what you want if you're grading demand. the bid to cover -- it was 2.77. the 10-year auction average 2.59. every metric, well above the 33%. no matter how you slice it, this is an "a" auction. as i look through the bid to cover numbers, it's been a while since i've seen 2.77 on a 30-year bond. looks like that's going to take us back to about the best bid to cover since december of 2011. we'll call it closing in on a year. a much different scenario than

yesterday's auction or the 3-year auction but that makes sense. there's been a lot of bouncing balls to deal with. i think today we didn't see that big rally as we did yesterday before you had to get involved. back to you. an "a" for the 30s. still more to go though. stay tuned. one company that certainly has the ability to move not just retail markets but the overall economy is walmart. which is why we're keeping close tabs on the world's biggest retailer's decision to kick off its black friday promotions earlier than ever. to talk about the ripple effects of that and hurricane sandy, burt fleck enfleckenger. >> start first with this black friday move which lets a lot of people start shopping on thanksgiving. smart move by walmart or a desperation move by walmart? >> sue, it's desperation retailing and desperation discounting. >> why?

>> as tyler mathisen referenced earlier, it's ho ho ho to try to hold sales by opening 16 hours earlier for black friday this year and 22 hours earlier than the prior year. walmart's got two salient ships which will benefit the company. number one, last year they sold out of 32-inch tvs in the stores i was in this less than 22 minutes. secondly, the lines, people were freezing for a few to five hours and getting into to best buy by comparison right away. walmart guarantees it will be one hour in line. that's a benefit. >> burt, let me ask you though. last year when we saw this happen there was a lot of pushback by some consumers who said, you're ruining one of the best holidays of the year by doing this, and also by the workers who said this is a holiday for me and my family. is there still going to be pushback on this do you think -- or has the consumer accepted it and in some cases perhaps

embraced it? >> sue, there will definitely be pushback by consumers, religious leaders, families and friends for not being able to give thanks on thanksgiving. and also many times there are angry shoppers in the stores because the stores can't handle the volume, and as you referenced earlier in terms of the workers, we've already seen whole shifts of workers walk out of the walmart super center in thief river falls, minnesota when we were there in south buffalo, new york, so the worry in terms of workers taking action at walmart and as they did at target last year is a consumer and corporate concern also. >> yes, indeed. what about hurricane sandy and its effect? there are those who say that people are going to have to replenish certainly and as a result of that, that will boost sales. but other people are saying a number of these retailers are going to get very hard as a result of this natural disaster. >> your latter point is completely correct that the

retailers will be hit very hard. the terrific team at home depot sold all the generators to lumber to replacement equipment and windows. that shifts consumer savings to home depot and lowe's and away from the luxury discount department store retailers. also many people -- 90% of people typically don't have flood insurance so there's less disposable income. it could be the start of a retail recession beginning this week through the holidays, into next year. >> thank you, good to talk with you. >> likewise. appreciate it, as always. thank you very much. it is not just retailers. new york governor andrew cuomo in a news conference just a few minutes ago said the damage from sandy could cost the state $33 billion! some of that damage the thousands of automobiles destroyed by the storm, including six in my wife's family. it's both a potential opportunity but also a headache

for carmakers that lost some of their inventory. phil lebeau and how all of this shakes out. phil? >> tyler, you mentioned losing six in your family. we've heard from a lot of people. look at this picture. this is the vehicle that belongs to the parents of tim moore. he's our video assets manager. when he heard we were doing this story, he said, hey, check out my parents' car! this is common throughout new jersey and new york. up to 266,000 vehicles may be lost because of sandy. most of those that are being lost were totalled. so when you look at the automakers, the new vehicles that are impacted, here's a rough outline as we have it at this point from the major automobilemakers. comes out to about 16,000 new vehicles. the question becomes, when people are in the market, will they be not able to find as many new vehicles? what happens? as you look at the latest in terms of the shares for the foreign automakers, keep this in mind when it comes to those vehicles and what will be bought new and what will be replaced with used. in general, most people believe that most people settle up their insurance claims, most of the vehicles that are going to be

bought will be used vehicles. there could be a slew of leases that are out there but tyler and sue, the bottom line is this. used market right now is pretty full. there's a good supply out there. the new market also has a good supply but when you're looking at a tragedy like this, people have a lot of other things on their mind other than going out and buying a new vehicle and taking out a monthly payment when they're still trying to figure out what's happening with their house, condo, whatever it might be. i've talked to people in the insurance industry today. most said look for the surge to come with the used markets. >> very good point, phil. thank you. the last throes of the nor'easter that socked this area yesterday now hitting cape cod and northern new england. this is a soft still-suffering staten island this morning. it is recovering still from hurricane sandy. this is a ground shot. grounded boats and cars covered with snow. thousands still without power there. and in other parts of suburban new york, including where i live and out on long island, adding

insult to injury. meteorologist todd gross tracking the storm and also watching, todd, for the next storm system. please, say it ain't so. >> it's so but where it belongs. you'll understand that in just a moment. over 100,000 new customers without power from this storm which, of course, has been called winter storm athena, as named by the weather channel. look at some of the amazing totals. one of the earliest snowstorms in the new york city vicinity ever. it's just one week after sandy. eight inches in queens. 13 inches in frehold, new jersey. big snowfall totals. the snow is on the trees and the trees came down. that's why the additional power outages. but if we take a look at the radar, this is all kind of breaking down at this hour. the actual storm center is not far from nantucket where they had winds to 65 miles per hour. notice how the precipitation is kind of breaking up and winding

down. the storm center is almost done. that's right, we're almost done with this one. now let's talk about the next one. it is brutus and it is going to affect the northern rockies in the next several days with 6 to 12 inches of snow. northern montana, blizzard warning but overall the united states undergoes a warming trend in to the week ahead. >> i'm going to take that as a silver lining, todd. thank you very much. let's turn to the markets now. we've erased our earlier gains. one day after the dow's largest drop this year, the dow is down 62 points on the session. the s&p is down about eight. the nasdaq is down 21, or .75%. kenny, good to see you. >> always a pleasure, sue. >> we didn't hold our gains and the market feels just a little unsettled today. what's your perspective? >> i think you're exactly right. i think it will continue to feel unsettled until once again we get more clarity. it is still confusing a little bit in washington, what are they going to talk about, what are they going to do.

the newspapers reporting five different things. so the markets trying to assess. i think what you'll see is that it is going to test the 1,380 level, the 200-day moving average on the s&p. it tried to do that yesterday. it wants to do that again today. it wants to see if the natural buyers are going to be standing there at least supporting at that level. if it doesn't find that at the moment and we break through that, then you're going to get another reaction. momentum plays jumping on. you'll see that market, make that sharp spike down. i don't think we'll get tho that though. i think you'll find plenty of buyers at that 1,380 level. >> draghi sounded better this morning in terms of his overall outlook. it seemed to buoy stocks but it didn't hold. >> it didn't hold. the problem is still not fixed. the concern is still there. structurally it is not fixed yet, everyone knows that. they are waiting for it to be fish fixed. same way over here. europe will continue to bubble at the surface -- the fiscal cliff will continue to be right at the surface until investors around the world get clarity and

comfort for where we're going. >> see you a little bit later, kenny. wall street, your money and that approaching cliff. when we come back, are they even talking and what must happen to make the right and the left, the democrats, the republicans, come together for a deal before the people start losing their jobs. plus, the richest cash companies in the world. before that though and before the break, the list of what walmart thinks will be the top five toys of the holiday season. ♪

welcome to the world leader in derivatives. welcome to superderivatives. there are 53 days until the united states takes a tumble off the fiscal cliff. it will trigger tax hikes and big budget cuts. if washington is going to rise above the partisanship, now is the time to make the move. eamon javers is live in washington looking at the ratings agencies and whether there is reason to fear a cut from that. >> yeah, tyler. there's been a lot of talk recently about what rat ratings agencies going do, is there another downgrade of u.s. debt looming here and what would that do to financial markets. i want to sort of tell you a little bit about why you might be able to stop worrying and start to love these ratings agencies. the reason is the timeline of any downgrade that might come down the pike.

starting with moody's. they're saying their rating on u.s. debt is likely to be maintained until the outlook of negotiations is clear. now fitch, they're likely to review their rating of u.s. debt in late 2013. late 2013. standard & poors poor's is saying it is a 1 in 3 chance of a downgrade over the coming two years. what do the ratings agencies want to see in order to avoid those kinds of downgrades? what they're saying is laid out specifically in their reports. moody's saying they want to see specific policies that produce a stabilization. they want a downward federal debt to gdp trend. fitch says they want an agreement on med yum term deficit reduction in 2013. standard and poor's is saying a medium term fiscal plan toward reducing general government debt. if you're an investor worried about these ratings agencies, it is very clear here that you are going to know the outcome of the fiscal cliff negotiations here

in washington before these ratings agencies make a move to downgrade u.s. debt. they are going to wait to see what happens in the united states, in washington before they do that downgrade. as an investor, watch these negotiations very carefully but don't worry about a surprise downgrade in the meantime. >> eamon, thank you. quick word on our rise above campaign. if you want to read more about it, go to cnbc.com. hopefully by the end of the day or tomorrow we'll have a button on the website where you can hopefully order one of the buttons that many of us have been wearing. i just forgot to put mine on today but i will have it on later. what will the economy look like under the new congress and the second obama administration? lynn tannenbaum is ceo of fifth street finance, a billion dollar market cap lender to private equity and the middle cap market. i know that one of the things that is very dear to you -- before we get to the markets, i want to ask you about it -- is american competitiveness. and that is tied up, isn't it,

with the fiscal cliff and our ability to be sensible about our budget. >> look, we haven't even had a budget in the past three years. that's democrats and republicans, both at fault. there's no budget, no pay memorandum that went around that these legislators shouldn't even get paid unless there is a budget. we need a bipartisan solution but we need planning. certainty. you heard kenny seen certainly is what's roiling these markets. this is a chance for obama to step to the middle. this is a chance for the republicans to leave their partisanship behind and do what's right for the country. in talking to a lot of senators and congressmen down in washington, d.c., i personally believe that a lot of them want to do the right thing and this is the time the first year of a presidential cycle where that can happen. >> how critical is it that this matter get solved, not punted down the road, not just for the markets but for the economy more broadly? >> we're on a sugar high right now. have you half a trillion dollars

of extra cash being pumped in by the federal reserve. the sugar high is going to end. it is so critical to have the planning and certainty of a grand compromise that if it doesn't happen, small businesses can't plan. look, we lend to 70 small businesses. we manage about $1.4 billion in assets. those companies, the ceos are screaming for certainty. they want to make their budgets, hire people, but they want to understand what the demand side of the equation is, as well as what the regulations are going to be, and where the budget cuts are going to be. >> let's talk about the markets and how you see them proceeding over the next -- let's say six weeks as the fiscal cliff looms. but then into 2013. what are you doing with your portfolios? >> well, we're being pretty cautious. we rotated into first lien loans. i believe spending cuts and revenue increases can only lead to recession if there is not certainty.

i think the offset could be infrastructure spending. there is an infrastructure bank. that's a democrat and republican priority. it is just a matter of who controls it. let's stop worrying about who controls it and do what's right for the country and rebuild our infrastructure to support american competitiveness. >> thank you very much. appreciate you being with us. as you know, the bond market and stock market are telling us two very different stories right now. which is the better crystal ball? we'll talk about that in two minutes' time when we come back on "power lunch." music is a uni. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. information on my phone. connection to doctors who get where i'm from. and tools to estimate what my care may cost. so i never missed a beat. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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let's take a look at the treasury market right now. it is very interesting because in the last two months we've seen a rally in the 10-year but the s&p has been struggling. which market is correct? which is pointing investors in the right direction? jim yurio is with tjm institutional services, also a cnbc contributor. jim, which one do you think is correct? in my background i always go for the bond market being correct and being earlier than the stock market. do you agree in this case? is. >> yeah. i like bond and currencies to lead the way. what frightens me today is that auction we just had, they were crawling all over each other to tie up 30-year money at 2.82.

to me that's frightening and that shows the way the market feels about the current situation is fear. seems like the stock market is holding okay and i think the wild card is that at any given moment the fed can come in and announce more stimulus and just tie it to the uncertainty of the fiscal cliff. you don't want to be the one short in the stock market necessarily when that's 20 handles in your face. >> how much lower do you think we have to go in terms of yields and -- >> i think it is moving out to the 30-year is what the lead is now. we talked today about option packages that went through in the cme that indicated 2.5% yield in the 30-year. i think that's relatively reasonable. remember this morning john boehner came out and he said some fairly friendly things regarding negotiating the fiscal cliff. if the democrats say some of those things, too, this market is in a position now where it needs to be convinced by lawmakers that there's nothing

to fear. they're far from that right now. that could happen. i just don't think it is going to any time in the next couple weeks. that's why i think 2.5 seems reasonable target. >> jim, thank you. jim iourio. to a "market flash." bertha coombs joins us. >> one of the major loelders in krispy kreme has been selling off quite a bit of his stake. the largest holder in krispy kreme with over a 10% stake, we've seen a number of these filings coming through. they filed in september saying they'd reduce their stake by a million shares. but today a lot of these filings come across the tape, they are showing that -- putting some pressure on the tape. you can rent to own a couch. you can rent to own a car. you can rent to own a house. i wonder how far. you can fix your credit rating

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welcome back to "power lunch." i'm sharon epperson. just in time for the bell for the close of the gold, trading here on the floor of the new york mercantile exchange. gold prilgss haces are up $11 ot the close, $1,726 an ounce, near the highs of the session. keep in mind a lot of traders this morning talking about that $1,721 level would be a key level to get above and in fact gold prices did get above that mark. the ecb continuing accommodative policy. that's something traders are talking about as a reason perhaps for the strength here in the gold market. again, many see the fiscal cliff and the stalemate ahead of determining whether or not we're going to avert the fiscal cliff as bullish for gold. we are looking at relative strength in the dollar and still gold prices rallying. it tells through is still a lot of interest in this safe haven bid here for gold. we've seen that in the exchange traded funds as well

withholdings in exchange traded funds, gold related exchange traded funds rising to a record level. lot of interest and inflows into gold etfs in the last week or so, also chatter about what china is going do in terms of gold etfs. will they get into this market? that could certainly increase demand as well. back to you. let's get some trading action going. bob pisani is down on the floor at the new york stock exchange. hi, bob. >> i just put out a note on my trader talk blog highlighting the problem today -- that's fiscal cliff anxiety. that's the newest worry on wall street, concerns about the imfact of potentially higher taxes on an already weak u.s. economy. that's it. i don't particularly like the trading action today. we've been drifting lower and it's been very orderly. but the volume's been a little bit heavier than normal. we just took a tiny leg down here on the s&p 500. the dollar has been up. this has gotten a lot of

peopleapeople a agitated. anxiety over qe3 and possibly qe4 is putting pressure on stocks. freeport, bhp all down 2%, 3 where 3%, and in some cases 4% or 5%. st amazons, apples, googles, all getting hit pretty hard today. back to you. >> yikes. that is not a pretty picture. it is not pretty at the nasdaq either which on a percentage basis is now down about 1% compared to just a loss of .66% on the dow. seema mody, how much of it is apple, how much of it is the rest of the tech sector? >> apple still the big story here. it continues its move lower. stock down 2.6%. it just broke a key support level of 550. that's a key level that market technicians watch.

technical story on shares of apple still very much at play. however, if you are looking for a bright spot in tech, take a look at qualcomm. it reported earnings last night, gave the bulls in tech exactly what they wanted -- strong growth on its top and bottom lines. smartphones being the key catalyst here as demand for smartphones picks up. so do the demand for mobile chips to power those devices. that's the play on qualcomm. the stock up 6%. other chip stocks in the sector also getting a lift. we have nvidia up 1.5%. intel recovering from the 52-week low that it hit yesterday. big s dr biggest drag on the nasdaq 100, whole foods down 4.9%. weak guidance has investors worried. we have to continue to watch that level. >> thank you. to housing now. another new sign of recovery, home prices took a big leap in last quarter, up more than 7% from a year ago according to a new report from the realtors. those numbers may not tell the

whole story. mortgages and credit despite historic low interest rates still an issue. our real estate correspondent diana olick is here now with the rest of the story. diana? >> tyler, home prices are recovering. no question. but driving those gains are all cash investors. we saw them push phoenix home prices up over 20% in the past year and don't get me wrong, this is good. investors are cleaning up the mess of foreclosures and some are even starting to see a profit. but regular would-en buyers like chicagons thomas and michelle grant are still left out. >> we've been there where we tried to get places, but because of our credit, i mean we're not bad people. we just had some struggles. >> the grants both have jobs and have the desire to be homeowners. what they don't have is good credit. after thomas lost his job during the recession. so they are renting. but rentinging to own. it is a program offered by some of today's new breed of foreclosure investor like the

mack companies in chicago. mack bought the home in foreclosure and rehabbed it. to see what it looked like before, check out the foreclosure right next door. mack now puts aside 300 of the grants' $1,700 monthly rent, which by 2014 should be enough for a down payment on the home. it should also be enough time for the grants to rebuild their credit. >> rates are low, people are starting to realize that a lot of people got caught in this down it will turn of the economy so people such as myself are going to be given a second chance. >> economists at capital economics said it yesterday. mortgage dependent buyers are still only bit part players in the housing market recovery. with looming mortgage regulation that could actually tighten lending even more, it doesn't look like that'sbout to change. >> all right, thank you very much, diana olick. let's recap the other big headlines that are driving today's session. new york air travel still not back to normal after the

region's second storm which occurred yesterday. flight tracking service flight aware saying that major airlines have canceled about 600 flights around the u.s. today. the u.s. jobless claims figures falling to 355,000. one sign that the labor market is recovering, albeit slowly. however, the data was distorted by hurricane sandy. and amazon unveiling a new online wine marketplace. yes! the largest internet retailer says it will ship wine to 12 states and washington, d.c. shipping six bottles will cost you about $10. ty, such a deal! >> all right. this is a chart of apple. and this is a chart of apple on drugs. put it on the board. downers! ambien, down almost 20% in two months. nasdaq after more than 6% over the same time frame. account nasdaq grow if apple doesn't? that's next. before the break though, what kinds of retail tactics will get you in the store this

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mark drier went from seemingly successful attorney to calculating criminal mastermind in a multi-million dollar investment fraud. tonight on the documentary "unraveled," he explains in his own words how it all began. >> i definitely saw it as aon one-time misadventure, if the beginning i thought if i can just get this money in a relatively short period of time i could invest it in the firm, i could generate funds and i could repay the -- i could repay the so-called debt and get myself out from under the -- under the illegality of it. the law firm was draining off far more money than i

anticipated it would and the debt was mounting. if i had to achieve success by theft, certainly logically i should not have felt that good about myself. i can't remember spending any time wrestling with that, which underscores how desperate i felt. >> wow. don't miss "unraveled." it premiers tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. story of mark dreier on cnbc. walmart will start black friday on thanksgiving this year in the evening. what tactics will get you to go to the stores in that's today's finance.yahoo.com poll. survey says -- big sales. 43%. extended holiday hours, 4%. nobody really cares about that. layaway or financing option, 3%. it doesn't matter -- i'm shopping online says 50%. now let's see what's coming up on "street signs."

>> we've got some red arrows today, right? but nothing like yesterday. we're going to take a look at the top concerns for investors, ie you, and how you can avoid getting burned. plus, voters in california say raise my taxes. we debate whether this kind of action at the state level could catch on nationwide and the politics and profits of legal pot. could this be the answer for more states to help pay the bills and balance the budget? lots of things coming up top of the hour. guys, back to you on "power lunch." >> that's a controversial one, mandy. we'll see you you at 2:00. samsung's galaxy s3 is the world's best selling smartphone. passing apple's iphone 4s for theirst time last quarter. according to the research firm strategy analytics, samsung sold 18 million units versus apple's 16.2 million. meanwhile, apple stock further in bear territory today with the major markets trading lower as well over the last two months. we want to know -- as apple trends lower, is it possible for

other stocks in the overall stock market to recover? kenny pulcari is back with us and bob pisani as well. kenny, start with you. we're doing this because i know you remember and i remember, as go the financials, so goes the rest of the market. then it narrowed down to, as goldman sachs goes, so goes the rest of the market. are we in a market where now it's as apple goes, so goes the rest of the market? >> you know, i don't really think so. i think that might be true in the tech sector, might be true if you think of the nasdaq. i don't necessarily think it is true when you think of the s&p 500 overall and dow jones industrials. on a daily basis it's got a big move and people talk about it. in the end what happens at caterpillar or deere or jpmorgan morgan doesn't matter. people need not get caught up in that drama. >> bob, a lot of analysts we've talked to have said, you know what? and many has such an amazing handle on the consumer that they look at it as an economic

indicator and a consumer indicator rather than just a stock. >> i think the iphone sales -- iphone 5 sales have been fine. there is a little anxiety about the ipad mini sales. i haven't bought one but i'm going to buy the iphone 5 very soon. i'll automatically upgrade once my cycle ends. i'm more worried about what's going on in the market and how it is affecting apple though. we're seeing derisking going on in the last two days, people are out there number one trying to protect some gains for the year that they've had and some people who are out clearly trying to reduce headline risk associated with fiscal cliff. this word fiscal cliff anxiety i say is really kind of prevalent right now and apple is getting caught up in that. even before the last two days, apple was a broken stock. it stopped going up september 21st. when the iphone 5 was announced. >> exactly. so i agree. i think what's happened now as bob said, it's had this tremendous move so people are taking money off the table.

it is easy to take money off the table in apple. it is liquid, you can get in and out very quickly so people are taking advantage of that. so you'll see some pressure on apple but i don't think you can extrapolate that over the long term. i hear the whole consumer thing but i'm not buying it. >> i was talking to a couple of "fast money" guys. they were saying you have to look at apple as basically an indicator that if apple has topped, that maybe the overall market has topped temporarily. which, if you look at the market's performance over the last month, especially in the last few days, that seems to hold true. >> yes. look, apple is a stock that a lot -- a lot of people have hidden in. number one. and a lot of people have way too much of their portfolio in. >> including a lot of fund managers. >> that's been true for a long time. i'm not saying apple exhibits bubble characteristics. but a three-month chart of apple, you can see those moves

are breathtaking. >> people got caught up in the hysteria like anything and overall allocated to apple. when it turns around, they have to take the money offer the table and you get the reverse happening. which i think is what is happening. >> these are $100 moves here in less than three-month periods on the up side and downside. >> but kenny, if you look at the top holdings of the top ten hedge funds that are out there, apple has been their number one holding. so now we're coming up to the end of the year and if it's in bear market territory, do they continue to unload that or no? >> well, it's interesting. some certainly will. others will view this as a massive buying opportunity because it is apple. right? others will certainly see this as come to me, the buyers are there but they want the sellers to panic and come to them which i think is what you see happening. >> when you see a stock go from $500 to $700 in a few months essentially, then coming back down like that, a buying opportunity is hard to describe. it is hard to define when the

right point is for a buying opportunity with those kinds of moves. >> that's correct, though i have to tell you, the $525 right now, it should find some support and i think we'll see -- we'll test that probably very quickly. right? we'll see if it really holds there. >> guys, thanks. appreciate it very much. now bertha coombs has a "market flash." >> we're watching shares of universal display. the ticker panel tells you what they do, they make those o-lead panels, organic, panels that you see on things like cell phones. they basically cut their outlook and they are hitting a two-year low today on that news. although the ceo says if you look at what happened we think it is just a temporary slowdown right now. the beginning of the year, despite one of their major clients, samsung, not giving them as much business. they said they grew but that temporary slowdown certainly disappointing investors. brad pitt's face is everywhere for some reason. in movies, public service ads

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after a few days hiatus, it is once again power rundown time. cnbc's michelle caruso-cabrera is here. so is john carney. let's talk a little bit about the fiscal clif and rising above, the day after the elections we have both democrats and republicans making nice noises at least on resolving the fiscal cliff. have their positions really clanged, john, or is this just the expectable post-election? >> it is the expectable post-election -- bs. there's no way that the republican congress can agree to raise taxes. they will be challenged in the primaries and they will lose an issue to fight the democrats in a general election. that's only a year-and-a-half away. the republican primaries for the house, remember. and the democrats won the

presidency by advocating higher taxes. so this was a polarizing election, not a compromise election. they're not going to get together on this. >> the republicans have said they're willing to raise revenues by reform, the tax code. that means cutting loopholes. democrats want to raise taxes by raising -- raise revenues by raising taxes on rich people. that's it. i don't see how the two come together on this. >> remember in 2011 twlb w 2011 before we got into the crisis for the debt limit there was a lot of talk. they were reaching a compromise, a $4 trillion deal was being made and it all fell apart. >> but no politics really, really, really wants to raise taxes. what i think is going to happen -- >> democrats want to raise taxes! >> but ultimately what i think they're going to do is they're going to say, okay, we will go for tax reform. >> yeah? >> and that they will both use that as a reason, say we're getting close on tax reform. we're going to extend this --

>> that happened -- you think you'll do it next december? i think we go past december 31st. >> they're going to change the discussion. let's talk about brad pitt. >> or black friday. >> retailers are jockeying for position on black friday. walmart and sears are going to open at 8:00 on thanksgiving day. i can't think of really a worst place to be on thanksgiving night than at sears or a walmart. or any store, for that matter. >> i think this is a great help for troubled families. one of the most tense times of the year is when all of you are stuck in the same room. how often do you do that except on thanksgiving or christmas day. now can you go two hours earlier. >> i've got to go to sears at 8:00! >> i have never shopped on black friday. i'm not going to shop on black friday extended to thanksgiving thursday. but when i mention that i found this like almost barbaric

tradition people do, actually people shop with their families! they continue their family togetherness just in line at walmart. >> let's go to walmart tonight. man, i am -- >> that's where you go to get away from your family! >> maybe you split up with the family members you like best to go shopping. >> leave it to michelle. another new direction and career for actor brad pitt. he recently starred in an ad for chanel, a much lampooned ad for chanel no. 5. let's just listen. >> the world turns and we turn with it. plans disappear. >> yes, they do. >> dreams take over. >> um-hmm. >> but wherever i go -- >> i made furniture. >> -- there you are. >> and that's what he's going to do. it's not enough to smell good. you have to sit well. he is designing high-end furniture with frank polaro who is a good friend of his. the pieces include coffee tables, dining tables, chairs,

even, yes -- >> they're nice, hey? what's he doing? is he going after kathy ireland? is he going to be like martha? >> i think it is great. we have a long history of amateurs coming in. john cooper finch who recently passed away. he was a race car driver who designed those barriers you see on the highway and they have avenue saved tons of lives. brad pitt, career change? going into inventing new kinds of furniture? i think it could be great. >> the world has lots of examples of this. there was kathy ireland or cindy crawford home and all of those things? >> brad pitt can do whatever he wants. and i will applaud it. i still remember the very first time i saw him in "thelma and l louise" when he walked into the room and i said, my god, who is that? he can do anything he wants! >> i read about this furniture. it's not quite to my taste. sorry, brad, i'm not going to be one of your customers but it did

get some great reviews. some people even said his big problem was he was a little too restrain which is not what we feel a hollywood type. >> he's an interesting cat. long been interested apparently in design. he was very involved in the rebuilding of new orleans after katrina. so -- >> also, if you're a big movie star, can you kind of do these things the rest of us can't do. i sit around and think about furniture i want, but i don't think i could call up pollaro, hey, dude, let's do a deal. frank, if you're out there, give me a call. rising above, which is our campaign about the fiscal cliff and how important it is that we get a solution, not just a deal. go on the website cnbc.com to read more about it. hopefully later today or tomorrow we'll tell you if you want to sport one of these handsome buttons. >> they gave me one just for coming on. >> i like that. >> we all have them. >> we'll hopefully have some ability to get you some buttons. >> i'm glad you found your

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welcome back to "power lunch." we're watching shares of windstream, hitting a three-year low. it's only one of a dozen new lows in the s&p 500. we have no new highs today. >> all right, bertha. thank you very much. we might say that the dow jones industrial average has pared its losses since we came on the air. we were down 82 points and now we're only down 44 points on the trading session. the s&p 500 is down about six points on the trading day but the nasdaq continues to suffer in terms of its percentage losses. but it also is coming off of its worst levels of the day. that's some good news 40s bulls out there. >> very interesting day. an interesting week. we got more coming up